it together. keep it here at msnbc. obviously the story is developing tonight. we'll keep you posted. now it's time for "the last good wednesday morning. right now on "first look," the investigation into the boston marathon bombings heats up. the fbi says this was part of one of the pressure cooker bombs packed with explosives and metal shrapnel. we're also learning more about the young terror victims who paid the ultimate price and about those who were severely injured. in other news, in a major vote on gun control expected to take place on capitol hill today. good morning. we're learning more about the investigation into the deadly terror bombing at the boston marathon. experts are now combing the scene for pieces of evidence in an effort to put the bombs back together. nbc news chief justice correspondent pete williams has

the very latest. >> reporter: investigators have begun the process of recovering tiny pieces of the bombs to learn how they were made. they say it appears the devices were assembled inside pressure cooker pots similar to this one, packed with bbs, ball bearings and nails. pressure cookers have been used for decades in terror bombings. instructions for making them appear on the internet, including just last month in an al qaeda magazine "inspire." investigators say the explosion in boston was smokeless powder, gunpowder like this available at sporting goods stores, not something more powerful like dynamite. and they believed they were carried in the scene in dark nylon bags and set off by timers. the area was checked twice for bombs but there was no security screening. >> because there is unrestricted access to the racecourse, simply because it's 28 miles long, people can come and go and bring items in and out. >> reporter: authorities

searched the apartment of a foreign student injured in the blast and seen run ago way but they found nothing and he is not considered a suspect. investigators urge anyone who was at the scene to send them pictures and videos. police and federal agents even took the highly unusual step of asking people leaving boston if they had pictures of value, too. >> that was pete williams reporting. as investigators try to find those responsible, doctors and medical personnel continue treating dozens injured in the blast. this morning the death toll remains at three. late tuesday boston university says one of the grad students, a chinese national had died but the chinese consulate has not released her name. martin richard was the first confirmed fatality and krys tchtkrystle campbell was also killed. >> you couldn't ask for a better daughter.

i can't believe this is happening. she's such a hard worker in everything she did. this doesn't make any sense. >> nbc's chris jansing joins us now live from boston. chris, what an emotional time for the city of boston. >> without a doubt. this is a city that is grieving. it's also a city that's coming together. and we saw it in a very big way and in a heart warming way last night in dorchester which is the home of 8-year-old martin richard. a big crowd came out to show support for the family. it is hard to even imagine what they are going through not only losing an 8-year-old but the mother who had to undergo brain surgery. she had a very serious injury whether the entire family was near the finish line of the boston marathon. and their little girl, just 6 years old, first grader, who lost her leg. but last night we saw people lighting candles. they were laying flowers, stuffed animals and a lot of peace signs. one of the moving pictures that has come out of this is less than a year ago when little

martin richard had made a sign that said no more hurting people when he was in a peace march at school. the school where he went called him a bright energetic young boy who had big dreams and high hopes for his future. and the entire community it seemed wanted to come out and show support for his family. you also mentioned the young restaurant manager, just 29 years old, krystle campbell who was identified yesterday afternoon. she was a 2001 graduate of a local high school, medford high and she, too, like so many people made an event of going to the boston marathon. she was there with her best friend supporting her best friend's boyfriend who was running. there is a page that has been put up in her honor on the web describing her million dollar smile and her gorgeous bright young -- bright red hair. and then we also heard about that graduate student from china. we are now told by the chinese consulate that her parents have asked that her identity not be

revealed. as terrible as these losses are, one of the big conversations here, mara, has been about how remarkable the response was and there is no doubt that so many people coming to the scene, putting themselves in danger to help those who were injured probably avoided more loss of life. mara? >> all right. our hearts go out to all those affected. chris jansing, thank you. much of the country is in a state of heightened alert following the terror bombings in boston, good reason. mail in senate offices has been suspended of a letter contained a deadly poison. the letter addressed to roger wicker contained ricin. thankfully that envelope never made it to the capitol. it was intercepted at an off site screening facility. the envelope was postmarked from memphis, tennessee, but it had no return address. while it's decision day for new gun control legislation in the senate.

there's a lot at stake. professional careers and even friendships. mark kelly told reporters that arizona senator jeff flake may be a "good friend to him and wife gab yby giffords but they y replace him." tracie potts is live in washington with more on today's vote. good morning. >> good morning. and they also urge democrats planning to vote no at least two of them that we believe coming from conservative states that they would lobby for them if they supported this legislation. this is the manchin-toomey compromise. they tried to come up with a compromise that both sides can live with. it expands background checks. it looks like it doesn't have enough votes to pass. we know there are four -- at least four republicans who are likely to cross party lines and vote yes including john mccain who expressed some support for this. on the other hand, there are at

least six democrats and republicans whose votes are unknown and all six of those would likely be needed to get to the 60 that they need to pass. supporters say they're not giving up. harry reid, the democratic leader on the senate side, says the wind is at our backs. they seem to be within two to four votes. we'll find out more later this afternoon. mara? >> all right. we'll be watching that vote closely. tracie potts live from washington. thank you. nbc's dylan drier is here with a look at the wednesday forecast. good morning. >> good morning. we are actually watching a lot of severe weather moving across the country, especially down across oklahoma today. but we also have wintry weather still occurring across the northern plains. it doesn't look like that much right now. it is going to strengthen and become more severe as we go throughout the day. the snowfall will continue to accumulate, especially across south dakota and nebraska today. we're actually going to see another, perhaps 6 to 12 inches of snow across parts of western and central nebraska over the course of today. and even denver will pick up a few more inches of snowfall

today. look at all the lightning with these storms though across illinois, indiana, and stretching down into kentucky. we are going to see some stronger storms that way. but the biggest threat of severe weather today will be back across oklahoma especially. we'll see the possibility of large hail and even isolated tornadoes possible in that area in red from southeastern kansas right down into central oklahoma and even into northeastern texas. the area in yellow, that's an area where an isolated tornado is possible. it's more the wind gusts that could create damage and the frequent cloud to ground lightning. as we go through the afternoon and this evening, we certainly will see the chance of stronger storms in the plains today. >> and turning back to the boston bombing this is a very personal story for you. that was home for a number of years. >> for six years. and patriots day, especially. it was just one of those days where everybody is excited and outside and part of the red sox game and marathon. i just watch the coverage and breaks your heart. >> but all your loved ones are okay?

>> everybody is okay, loved ones, friends, family, everyone is okay. >> we're happy to hear. that thank you so much. just ahead, tens of thousands of american airlines passengers are stranded by a computer glitch. and meet the heroes that stepped up and helped out to help out those best in need. these mr. clean guys, they're like a clean team.

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we've heard tragic stories throughout this whole ordeal, but cases of heroism and support have emerged from the boston attacks. ann thompson who is from the boston area has more on the heroes of the marathon bombing. >> reporter: if crisis reveals character, then call boston courageous, carlos arrendondo is one of many that ran to help instead of running away. >> i was carrying somebody who lost both of their legs. >> reporter: in the midst of the horror, arrendondo said he remembered his lowest point, when he learned his son alex a marine was killed in iraq. grief stricken, arrendondo set

himself on fire and rescued. he recalled his wife's words of comfort as he calmed jeff ballmon jr. he lost his legs but he survived. >> what i experience myself and give something to comfort him and give him hope and get him out of there as soon as we could. >> reporter: you can call boston kind. peter dandrotti leaves two miles from where the race went off. >> we carried everything out on platters and just started feeding people and bringing out coffee and the little things that we could do, my friends and i, to help people out in this time of tragedy. >> reporter: nearly 6,000 people offered their home online to stranded runners. yes, you can call boston generous. margaret schmitt invited three runners and their friends into the home and fed the shivering group from kansas city. >> they were just sitting there not able to get into their hotel, not having eaten. and they weren't complaining.

they were just very charming. >> reporter: one of the runners alley hatfield posted pictures on her blog writing, people are good. you can say that about boston, too. ann thompson, nbc news, boston. from one thompson to another, turning now to what's moving your money today, we go to mary thompson. good morning. >> good morning to you, mara. stock futures are lower after the markets rebound yesterday from the steep losses we saw on monday. the dow recovering 60% of monday's declines tuesday. intel and yahoo could weigh on trading to day as both tech giants recorded so-so earnings. not so fast. one day after macy's requested an appeal, the court is temporarily blocking jcpenney from selling certain martha stewart products. macy's is appealing the lower court ruling from last week allowing the rival to stock home goods that don't carry the martha stewart name. toyota sold five million hybrids worldwide. they began selling the prius in

1997. they now account for 14% of the total sales. back to you. >> all right. mary thompson, thank you so much for that. if you have money in the stock market, with you har yp toy see the bottom line bounce back tuesday. it was a bad day for american airlines. ceo tom horton released a youtube video apologizing for a computer glitch that grounded all of its flights on tuesday. sadly, as the country recovers from the bombings in boston, business is booming for security companies. in fact, a new york-based company that provides bomb-sniffing dogs, they say their business has already doubled. meanwhile, some folks are selling their 2013 boston marathon medals on ebay with buy it now prices up to $499. noou newspapers are also up for auction. news corporation is finally joining this century, sort of. 20th century fox is renamed 21st century fox. don't let our fancy graphic fool you. the logo will remain the same.

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turning back now into the investigation of the bombings at the boston marathon. joining us now by phone is retired atf agent in charge jim cavenaugh. now with all the security precaution that's are put in place at events like these, why weren't these bombs detected? what went wrong? >> looks like the boston police swept the area with the bomb-sniffing dogs and bomb squad but they did not totally secure the area after they swept it. and that can be for a lot of reasons. issues, whether they suspected anything that would happen. a marathon is a very difficult thing to secure anyway just because of the length of the race and number of people. >> now we've since learned that the explosives were most likely pressure cooker bombs.

how sophisticated are those bombs and what do they tell us if anything about the bomber? >> well, what's come out right is they're pressure cookers and ball bearings inside and circuit board. so we know it's electrically fused. one thing we know for sure is they're simple and they're very effective. the electrical fusing remains to be seen is that a cell phone circuit board or a timer? if it's a cell phone, the 12 seconds between the two blasts may indicate the time the bomber used to dial the first bomb, listen for the blast. he might have been away. and then dial the second bomb. or it could have been a timer. >> boston officials said they didn't have any indications or warnings that there was any threat, any particular threat on that day. there was no chatter. does that suggest that this could be the work of a lone wolf, someone working without accomplices? >> right. there is nothing to suggest that what we've seen that it could not be one person. one person could have carried a

satchel, pressure cooker in it. it would be pretty heavy, 30 pounds. another one in a backpack maybe and walked down the street and placed one, placed the other. >> now bombings are often some of the hardest crimes to solve because much of the evidence is blown up. what are officials doing right now to try to piece this crime together and track down whoever is responsible? >> well, aft, fbi, police bomb squad detectives are expert at reconstructing these devices from the blast. we do it all the time. blow up cars, we blow up bombs. we blow up pressure cookers. we put the pieces back together. so we can actually recognize bits of wire, battery parts, clock parts, circuit board parts and minutely put those together and the forensic scientist at the lab can help them put together. >> all right, jim cavanaugh, thank you so much. the heightened state of alert after the twin bombings in boston stretches overseas to day where a massive security

operation is underway on the streets of london. the it is ji preparing to say a final formal farewell to former british prime minister margaret thatcher. anna bell roberts has the details from london this morning. annabell, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. well, margaret thatcher's coffin has just been moved from a chapel at the palace of westminster behind me where it was overnight and is in the process of being transferred on to the back of a horse drawn first world war gun carriage. it will then be driven the short distance through the streets of london to st. paul's cathedral for the funeral which is due to start in 40 minutes. that is being attended by the queen. as you can see, there are soldiers there for this funeral. now there are 4,000 or so policemen on the streets of london to ensure this event passes off peacefully. there have been sniffer dogs checking the route. there are spotters on the roofs. but above all, they're there to ensure that any protest does not

disrupt the procession, the formality of this position. i think the most likely thing that you'll see today is perhaps people turning their back as the coffin passes in front of them. the reason for this, mara, it is perhaps surprising. it's more than 20 years since margaret thatcher left power in britain. but even so, even two decades on, people find her divisive and she is loved or loathed with a passion. mara? >> all right. annabel roberts. we saw briefly the dignitaries and leaders attending the services. thank you for that report. just ahead, dylan dreyer joins us with your wednesday weather forecast. and rivalry for the ages takes a break to unite behind those affected by the boston bombings when "first look" returns. (announcer) friskies. now serving breakfast.

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baseball remembers the victims of the boston marathon bombing in cleveland. a moment of silence before the indians-red sox game. both teams lined up to honor the dead and injured and some red sox players talked about the tragedy. >> i was there the day before, you know, and you don't -- you can't even describe how you feel. i mean it's just -- all of us, that bus ride was silent. still hard to put together. >> in philadelphia, centerfielder ben are a veer of the pillies put a handwritten message on his glove saying pray for boston. in new york, yankees fans paid tribute. they plate "sweet caroline," the

popular fenway park sing along by neil diamond. ♪ touching you sweet caroline ♪ >> and former nfl player and legendary broadcaster pat summerall has died at the age of 82. he was best known for television partnership with john madden over decades of nfl game including 16 super bowls. and now dylan dreyer is here with a quick look at the weather. >> it is mild in the northeast. we have temperatures in the upper 50s to lower 60s. look at this cold air back across minneapolis and into the dakotas. that's where we're going to see most of the snow today across south dakota and western and central nebraska. 6 to 12 inches of snow possible. we're also going to see the threat of stronger storms in the plains states today with tornadoes possible, especially in oklahoma and southeastern kansas. that rain will start to spread eastward. by tomorrow, washington, d.c.,

will see some of the showers. cloudy in the northeast and in the 60s and 70s. >> all right. sounds sounds good. thank you so much. stay tuned, "way too early" starts right now. new yorkers and boston obviously have kind of a little bit of a, you know, a competition oftentimes the two cities accusing each other of various levels of suckatude. but it is in situations like this that we realize that it is clearly a sibling rivalry and that we are your brothers and sisters in this type of event. as a city that knows the feeling of confusion, anger, and grief and chaos that comes with these events, i